CNET's key takeaways
No robot vacuum has truly solved the challenge of multilevel cleaning without requiring you to physically move it between floors.
This robo-vac can do it, for the high-end price of $1,700.
You won't find another robot vacuum with its features for less than $1,000 right now.
The whole point of owning a robot vacuum is so you don't have to do the cleaning yourself. But that was never the case at my house -- partly because of what I call my "Ikea chair challenge." I've seen many robo-vacs get stuck at the bottom of one of my chairs, which has an unusually shaped base. It's just one obstacle among many in my home, which is also filled with pet hair, paw prints and three teenage sons who leave things lying around everywhere.
Luckily I'm the product development design engineer who oversees operations at CNET's testing lab, and after the Dreame X50 robot vacuum was named CNET's best for obstacles and pets, I got to see how it performed in real-world conditions at my place.
Well, it conquered the Ikea chair. It was actually pretty entertaining to watch as the Dreame X50 struggled, regrouped and then used its auxiliary climbing arms to get over the chair's base, and that was just one of the tools in its arsenal.
Watch this: Follow These Tips for Buying a Robot Vacuum in 2025 03:18
My experience with the Dreame X50 Ultra robot vacuum
Performance-wise, the Dreame X50 Ultra was generally solid. It started with a full deep clean, then vacuumed and mopped on its second run. During the app setup, I told it I had pets, so it emptied its dustbin a bunch during the first run. I found it to be pretty smart about lifting its mops while vacuuming the carpet.
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